It's About Time

Waking, I rolled over to check the clock and saw that I had no time.  Really...no time at all.  The storm had hit with a vengeance last night and we were having another power outage.  Normally I'd just roll over and go back to sleep and wait for daybreak, but I thought of my unexpected and oh-so-welcome guests (Larry and Taylor had come up for the weekend) and hit the panic button instead of snooze.  My bedside flashlight was on the fritz (note to self:  fix that today), so I felt my way cautiously down the hall.  Finding the kitchen flashlight, I saw it was three a.m., got to the land-line phone and hit speed dial for PG&E.  Miss Mechanical Voice told me they were aware of our problem, were on site to fix said problem, and would have an update around five.  The cats had been holed up in the barn last night and refused to make the dash through the rain at bedtime.  They evidently saw the flashlight moving around and came yowling to the door to be let in, bedraggled and apologetic.  Going back to bed, I left the flashlight on the floor pointing down the hall in case Larry or Tay had to get up in the dark.  Lying there, I kept running contingency plans through my mind:  there was still water in the kettle for instant coffee, Taylor doesn't watch TV anyhow and Larry and I could play cards, the rain would have filled the water trough, there was enough soup and homemade rye bread left from last night's dinner.  The biggest problem would be the danged toilets.  Flatlanders just aren't used to not flushing.  Playing different scenarios, suddenly there were clicks and buzzes and the clock started blinking red numbers again.  Ta da!  Bless those PG&E guys who braved the dark and stormy night to come to our aid.  My mind at peace, I went back to sleep.  Now I'm out of time.  I need to get ready to go to the barn.